30 June 2017

Anti-nuclear marches planned in Tahiti

A French Polynesian anti-nuclear group says it will hold two peaceful marches on the Tahiti peninsula on Friday and Saturday in the lead-up to the weekend commemorations of France's first nuclear weapons test in the Pacific.

Photo: Facebook Association 193

The Association 193 said the marches would be from Tautira to Taravao and from Taravao to Teahupoo to try to hold to account those responsible for the damage caused by the 193 atomic tests.

The group's vice president Auguste Uebe-Carlson said efforts to submit files for compensation were being frustrated by red tape, cost and above all fear to encounter repercussions on a personal level.

Father Auguste said there was no progress in getting the authorities to organise a local referendum on the impact of the tests despite tens of thousands of people having signed a petition to that effect.

He said the Association had also failed to get a response to its grievances from the new head of the local body looking at the aftermath of France's nuclear weapons tests.

Father Auguste said there appeared to be a denial that the fall-out affected all of French Polynesia.

In the lead-up to the French presidential election, Emmanuel Macron promised that Paris would pay in full the medical costs incurred by those suffering from radiation-induced illnesses.